Chapter 457: Chapter 13 The World Is Full of Injustices
September 19th, the fourth day after the start of the Martial Arts Exchange Competition and the first day of the main tournament.
At 7 a.m. sharp, the sports field designated for the competition was already packed with people.
The eight square platforms built earlier had been removed, leaving only a huge circular arena surrounded by six stone pillars, each over a dozen meters high.
The upcoming main matches would be held in the area enclosed by these six stone pillars, with each match conducted separately.
Each contestant who had qualified for the main tournament would confront their opponent under the witness of tens of thousands, displaying their prowess during a live television broadcast!
In the center of the field, two huge leaderboards were set up, with the left one listing the names of contestants who had entered the main tournament. The right one was still blank for the moment.
Many people were already gathered in front of the left leaderboard, looking at the names written on it.
These names were followed by the names of the respective universities or sects they belonged to, which were listed together.
Thus, it was clear at a glance which university or sect had the most participants in the main tournament.
The one ranked first was the Upper Pure Sect!
In addition to Gan Jingcheng, who automatically advanced to the main tournament as a competitor in the Tao Foundation Stage, the Upper Pure Sect, as the organizer of this competition, also had four spots in the main tournament.
Out of the remaining 35 disciples of the Upper Pure Sect, 9 had made it into the main tournament.
In total, the Upper Pure Sect had 14 people entering the main competition!
The second place was held by Pudu Temple.
Aside from two Buddha’s sons, Pudu Temple had three spots in the main tournament, and 8 out of their 25 disciples had fought their way in.
Therefore, Pudu Temple had 13 people in the main competition.
Ranked third was the Daluo Sect.
Apart from Ning Chuan and Ning Xing, Daluo Sect also had three places in the main tournament, with 6 of their remaining 25 disciples making it through, bringing their total to 11 participants in the main competition.
Ranked fourth was the Yuhua Sect, with a total of 7 people entering the main tournament.
Only then, at fifth place, was the other organizer, Tianqu University.
Aside from Yuwen Donghao, who automatically qualified, Tianqu University had two main tournament spots, with 2 of their remaining 7 students making it through.
Tianqu University had a total of 5 people entering the main tournament.
Among the remaining twelve universities, only Wu’an University had 3 participants in the main tournament: Li Fei, Wang Fengqing, and Li Tianyu.
All other universities had only one participant each!
From this leaderboard, the gap between the thirteen universities and the two leading sectarian Buddhist and Taoist sects was evident.
As one of the organizers, Tianqu University had a clearly more advantageous draw during the preliminary group stages.
For example, they drew groups where the average strength of competitors was weaker.
Or a few Tianqu University students were placed in the same group, collaborating to ‘escort’ one through the competition.
In spite of this, Tianqu University only had two individuals advancing to the main tournament.
No other university had any contestant advancing.
One could imagine that if there were no direct qualifications for the main tournament, the names of students from various universities on this leaderboard would be even fewer.
Perhaps in the end, only Li Fei, Wang Fengqing, and Yuwen Donghao, these three Tao Foundation Stage competitors, would have qualified for the main tournament.
The Upper Pure Sect, also an organizer, held a significant advantage, not only having the most spots and participants in the main tournament but also drawing a ‘top pick’ for its own disciples during the preliminary stages.
Yet under these circumstances, the Upper Pure Sect only had one more participant in the main tournament than Pudu Temple.
This spoke volumes of the profound heritage of Pudu Temple, this thousand-year-old Buddhist sacred place!
This time, they truly sent out the strongest lineup of their younger generation.
The crowd around the leaderboard suddenly grew restless.
Two important figures approached:
The Vice President of Tianqu University and Martial Arts Master, Yuwen Xinzhang.
The Elder of the Upper Pure Sect and Martial Arts Master, Xuan Ming.
These two approached the blank leaderboard.
Journalists from newspapers crowded over, and cameras and live broadcasting equipment were swiftly set up.
“Ladies and gentlemen, next we invite Vice President Yuwen Xinzhang from Tianqu University and Elder Xuan Ming from the Upper Pure Sect to draw the match pairings for the main tournament!” someone announced loudly.
Before starting the draw, staff members wrote the names of eight individuals on the blank leaderboard.
Those eight names were the peerless geniuses mentioned in the “Heavenly Pride Theory.”
“The next stage of the main tournament will be divided into eight sections, and the final eight slots will be determined within these sections.”
“We will first place the names of the eight peerless geniuses into these eight sections to prevent them from encountering each other too early and to ensure more exciting matches,” the staff member continued to explain loudly.
The eight peerless geniuses being placed into separate sections essentially meant that the rest stood no chance of making it into the top eight of the competition…
Even though the other contestants might feel indignant about such arrangements, nobody dared to voice their discontent.
Who told you that you weren’t a peerless genius?
Of course, the most disgruntled person in the audience was actually planning to speak up.
But before he could make a move, a mountainous pressure descended upon him out of thin air, rendering him immobile!
Standing in front of the leaderboard, Yuwen Xinzhang cast a stern glance at someone in the crowd and transmitted his voice with force:
Yuwen Donghao, pinned down by Gravity Divine Power, had fire in his eyes, grinding his teeth in anger.
“Now please welcome Vice President Yuwen Xinzhang from Tianqu University to draw the first contestant’s name.”
Hearing this, Yuwen Xinzhang reached into a transparent box, randomly selected a sphere, then opened it in front of everyone and took out the piece of paper with a name written on it.